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Proactive Personality and Innovative Work Behavior: the Mediating Effects of Affective States and Creative Self-Efficacy in Teachers

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Abstract

The purpose of the current study was to examine the influence proactive personality on innovative work behavior in teaching profession and investigate the potential mediating effects of affective states and creative self-efficacy on this relationship. Proactive Personality Scale, Positive and Negative Affect Schedule, Creative self-efficacy Scale and Teachers’ Innovative Work Behavior Scale were administered to 352 primary and middle school teachers in China. Results showed that proactive personality was significantly positively associated with teachers’ innovative work behavior. Furthermore, mediation analyses revealed that the impact of proactive personality on teachers’ innovative work behavior were simply mediated by positive affect and creative self-efficacy and sequential mediated by positive affect–creative self-efficacy and negative affect–creative self-efficacy. These findings provide a new perspective in understanding the intervening mechanisms underlying proactive personality on innovative work behavior. The possible explanations and limitations are discussed.

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Notes

  1. Notes: Three items which may have an overlap or similar meanings between IWB and proactive personality were firstly excluded in order to avoid redundancy. Then, data analysis was re-performed. Results showed that there were no differences from previous results.

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Correspondence to Mingjun Li.

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Funding

This study was funded by The Ministry of Education Research of Social Sciences Youth Funded Projects, PRC (grant number 14YJC190011), The Projects of Philosophy and Social Science Fund of Shanxi Province, PRC (grant number (13 N023), and the College Students’ Innovation Training Program of Shaanxi Province, PRC (grant number 2015 DC037 & 2310).

Conflict of Interest

Author Mingjun Li has received research grants from Ministry of Education Research of Social Sciences Youth Funded Projects, PRC (grant number 14YJC190011), and The Projects of Philosophy and Social Science Fund of Shanxi Province, PRC (grant number (13 N023). Author Lu Liu has received research grants from the College Students’ Innovation Training Program of Shaanxi Province, PRC, (grant number 2015 DC037 & 2310). All authors declare that there no conflict of interest.

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Li, M., Liu, Y., Liu, L. et al. Proactive Personality and Innovative Work Behavior: the Mediating Effects of Affective States and Creative Self-Efficacy in Teachers. Curr Psychol 36, 697–706 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-016-9457-8

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